The Stats on Women & Hollywood

Women comprise only 23% of film critics at daily newspapers. (San Diego State)

In 2007, women only comprised 15% of all directors, executive producers, writers, cinematographers, and editors working on the top 250 grossing films. (San Diego State)

In 2007, only 6% of the top 250 grossing films were directed by women. (San Diego State)

In 2007, only 5 of the top 50 films starred or were focused on women.

Of the 6,833 single speaking characters in the film nominated for best picture from 1977-2006 only 27.3% were females. (USC)

Women make up 27% of TV writers and 19% of film writers (WGAW)

In 2006, less than a dozen of the 307 films eligible for an Oscar were women driven (EW).

In 2006, only 3 movies in the top 50 starred or were focused on women. (EW)

Why focus on Women & Hollywood?

Ever notice that most of the films in mainstream Hollywood are by and about boys? Women & Hollywood does and is tired of it. Women & Hollywood will focus on bringing attention to the films, TV shows, theatre and other entertainment that highlights women and our contribution to the culture.

This blog will focus on what's going on for women in Hollywood: what movies are being made; what directors are getting jobs; what projects actors are working; and will call attention to the continuous disparity that dominates Hollywood.

Hollywood

December 19, 2008

Rod Lurie is one of the few guys who cares about writing really strong female characters. I fell in love with his complicated women back when Joan Allen played a hopeful vice-presidential candidate in The Contender. It continued through the too short TV show Commander in Chief that starred Geena Davis as the first female president of the United States.

In his latest film, Nothing But the Truth, a drama very loosely based on the Judith Miller going to jail to protect her source saga, Lurie again brings to the fore some seriously complicated women. Kate Beckinsale who shows acting skills here far beyond what has been demanded or frankly expected of her before, plays Rachel Armstrong an ambitious reporter at a Washington DC newspaper who blows the cover of a Valerie Plame like CIA operative. Vera Farmiga (one of the most interesting and versatile actresses around) plays the subject of the bombshell piece, a suburban mom/covert agent whose daughter just happens to be in the same class as Beckinsale's son.

The outing of Erica Van Doren has devastating consequences for both women in the workplace and at home, illuminating the struggle of working moms everywhere albeit a bit more complicated than usual. Beckinsale's Rachel is pressed to reveal her source and with her paper's backing, she refuses and is jailed. Her ongoing battle to get out of jail and keep her source protected takes up the second half of the film as Rachel becomes a pawn in the legal battles between the government and the press. Lately it seems that the press has been losing these battles. The film shows the personal toll on Rachel and her family.

Farmiga shows the fear and terror with subtlety when she is outed and in that scene you can see her brain working trying to figure out how to make the oncoming avalanche stop knowing full well that she can't. She then gets pissed not only for the fact that her career is now irrevocable changed, but also thinks about protecting her young daughter and her already disintegrating marriage. It's a mess for everyone and that's also what I like about Lurie's women. They're not perfect by any means. I don't need women onscreen to be perfect or above reproach, I like to see them as complicated and realistic and that's what Lurie gives us.

A woman has NEVER been nominated for the best cinematography Oscar. While that sucks one of the reasons is that there are so few female cinematographers at the top. The percentage is actually worse than female directors.

According to Martha Lauzen's Celluloid Ceiling study, women make up only 2% of cinematographers on the top 250 grossing films (2007.)

Pathetic.

But it looks like this year we might break the jinx at least for a nomination. Both Maryse Alberti for The Wrestler and Mandy Walker for Australia are getting noticed for their work.

From a recent LA Times piece:

Alberti and Walker agree that gender has not affected their success, and, while women are rare in their field, their work has been judged on merit. Walker says that while "absolutely there would be something special" about being the first woman to win an Oscar for cinematography, she doesn't dwell on being in a male-dominated profession. "I actually never think about it until someone asks me the question," she says. "I just feel that I'm employed because I'm good at my job. I never took it on as a gender issue."

While Alberti concurs, she admits at the beginning of her career there was sometimes the question of, "Can the little lady handle the big lights?" But she quickly formed a pragmatic comeback that proves success as a DP is more about brains than brawn. "I had to say, 'The little lady doesn't carry the big lights,' " she recalls with a laugh. "She points and the big guys carry the lights."

Guess I shouldn't be surprised by this by the opening night of South by Southwest next March is the latest version of a Judd Apatow comedy, I Love You, Man where Paul Rudd (who I love) goes on man dates to find a best man for his wedding since he has no real guy friends. The trailer even has a fart joke -- that's how mature this is. Does a mainstream film like this really need a film festival to kick off its release?

SWSX has become a big deal in film festivals recently...but I would hope this is not an indication of the rest of the films to be screened.

British actress Samantha Morton is making her TV directorial debut with "The Unloved," about a girl growing up in a children's home, for U.K. broadcaster Channel 4. (Variety)

Rinko Kikuchi and Sergi Lopez will star in Isabel Coixet's "Map of the Sounds of Tokyo," the Spanish director's follow-up to Penelope Cruz starrer "Elegy." "Map" based on an original screenplay by Coixet is about a solitary young Japanese woman who works in a fish market at night and occasionally as a hired killer. She's contracted to assassinate a Spanish man, who's blamed for the suicide of a rich businessman's daughter. Meanwhile, a sound engineer, who's fascinated by the woman and the sounds of Tokyo, tracks the girl through the city. (Variety)

Betty Thomas has signed on to direct "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel," a follow-up to the surprise 2007 hit featuring the lovable CGI-animated singing rodents.

Helen Hunt will helm a 60-second snack food commercial for Frito-Lay, set to air during the Feb. 22 Oscar telecast. The actress will direct a short film of the most inspiring entry in a story contest for the company's True North snacks. Frito-Lay will also pay the winner $25,000. Stories will focus on how the author or someone the author knows is pursuing a life's passion. (Variety)

December 18, 2008

Both the Women's Film Critics Circle (of which I am a member) and the Alliance of Women Film Journalists gave out their awards and surprise, some are quite different from the other lists.

The Women Film Critics Circle is an association of 47 women film critics and scholars from around the country, who are involved in print, radio, online and TV broadcast media. They came together five years ago to form the first women critics organization ever in the country, in the belief that women’s perspectives and voices in film criticism need to be recognized fully. WFCC also prides itself on being the most culturally and racially diverse critics group in the country by far, and best reflecting the diversity of movie audiences.

TOP TEN HALL OF SHAMERoman Polanski: Wanted And DesiredHouse Of The Sleeping BeautiesThe WomenThe Life Before Her EyesThe Hottie and the No ttieSavage GraceMade Of HonorThe Family That PreysHounddogZack And Miri Make A Porno

**ADRIENNE SHELLY AWARD: Adrienne Shelly was a promising actress and filmmaker who was brutally strangled in her apartment in 2006 at the age of forty by a construction worker in the building, after she complained about noise. Her killer tried to cover up his crime by hanging her from a shower20rack in her bathroom, to make it look like a suicide. He later confessed that he was having a “bad day.” Shelly, who left behind a baby daughter, had just completed her film Waitress, which she also starred in, and which was honored at Sundance after her death.

**JOSEPHINE BAKER AWARD; The daughter of a laundress and a musician, Baker overcame being born black, female and poor, and marriage at age fifteen, to become an internationally acclaimed legendary performer, starring in the films Princess Tam Tam, Moulin Rouge and Zou Zou. She also survived the race riots in East St. Louis, Illinois as a child, and later expatriated to France to escape US racism. After participating heroically in the underground French Resistance during WWII, Baker returned to the US where she was a crusader for racial equality. Her activism led to attacks against her by reporter Walter Winchell who denounced her as a communist, leading her to wage a battle against him. Baker was instrumental in ending segregation in many theaters and clubs, where she refused to perform unless integration was implemented.

**KAREN MORLEY AWARD: Karen Morley was a promising Hollywood star in the 1930s, in such films as Mata Hari and Our Daily Bread. She was driven out of Hollywood for her leftist political convictions by the Blacklist and for refusing to testify against other actors, while Robert Taylor and Sterling Hayden were informants against her. And also for daring to have a child and become a mother, unacceptable for f emale stars in those days. Morley maintained her militant political activism for the rest of her life, running for Lieutenant Governor on the American Labor Party ticket in 1954. She passed away in 2003, unrepentant to the end, at the age of 93.

Kathleen Turner has joined the cast of the Off Broadway play “The Third Story” by Charles Busch, in which she will appear with Mr. Busch, who plays the show’s other female lead. Show will begin preview performances at the Lucille Lortel Theater on Jan. 14 and open on Feb. 2, continuing through Feb. 28. (NY Times)

Kristen Stewart is set to portray Joan Jett in "The Runaways," the rock 'n' roll biopic of the 1970s all-girl band. Video director Floria Sigismondi wrote the screenplay and is directing. Jett will serve as an executive producer.

Janet McTeer and Nathalie Press will star in “The Sea Change,” a $600,000 budgeted British family drama set on the remote Isle of Mull, Scotland. Pic will be co-directed by, Brek Taylor and Elizabeth Mitchell. Clare Tinsley produces. (Variety)

Twentieth Century Fox has acquired screen rights to Adena Halpern's novel "The Ten Best Days of My Life" and will develop it as a star vehicle for Amy Adams. Adams will play a woman who dies and goes to heaven but is in danger of being demoted to a lower level of paradise unless she can prove herself by recounting her 10 best days. (Variety)

Patricia Heaton is set for the lead role, in ABC's pilot about a middle-class Midwestern The Middle a family comedy as seen from the mother's perspective.(HR)

For being the new face of an Amnesty International human rights campaign.

"I wanted to be part of this film for Amnesty to help raise awareness of the UDHR and to help them, in a small way, to campaign against the abuses of human rights that are still happening every day. It seems that ‘human rights’ has become a bit of a loaded term in this country, but if you look at the declaration that countries made 60 years ago, it just sets out a series of basic rules about how people should treat each other. The UDHR is something that everyone should be aware of and be proud of as a statement of our common humanity."

December 17, 2008

It seems that the music business like other forms of entertainment are dominated by the young ones.

Pop Matters takes a look at the best music released this year from women over 45. Support these artists.

America’s hyper-obsession with youth has taken over the music charts. This is especially true if you are female. The adage in the music industry now is that if a woman doesn’t have a hit by the time she’s 22 years old, she should probably look for another career.

That’s obviously a load of blarney. There are a multitude of great female artists making great music who are more than twice that age. These women are not on a comeback, have not matured or ripened, or whatever other cliché one might use. For the most part, they have had consistently strong careers full of wonderful recordings and have kept on making great records.

The musical Mamma Mia! (dismissed by most critics but beloved by filmgoers) has shattered the long standing British box office record held by Titanic. It has become the "highest grossing release of all time at the British box office according to Variety."

It also opened at #1 in 15 countries. It has grossed over $143 million dollars in the US and $427 million worldwide. That's over half a billion dollars. Amazing.

Here's some quotes from recent op-ed Ullmann wrote in the Boston Globe:

AS THE global financial and economic crisis continues to throw countless numbers of people out of work, millions of refugee women and girls in developing countries continue to toil at a task that is not only arduous but extremely dangerous: collecting firewood to cook meals for their families.

For thousands of these impoverished women and girls, gathering firewood is more than a vital chore - it is often a matter of life and death. By doing what many of us achieve by simply turning on a stove, refugee women and girls regularly fall victim to rape, assault, theft, exploitation, and even murder.

December 16, 2008

The 2008 Movie Script Contest announced its winners, and out of the 24 finalists, three were women. And of the winners - zip, nada, zero. Out of eight comedy screenplay finalists, the only woman was at the bottom with an honorable mention.

As someone who reads a ton of scripts every year, I can tell you women write great and funny films...In general (with all the pitfalls of generalizations) women structure their comedies differently, both in the relationship of the world to the characters and in the manner of the climactic payoff(s).

I wish it wasn't such a bad thing that women write and structure their work differently. It should be embraced. We are different and our experiences should not be construed as "less than", but different. So many stories are not not being told. Sigh.Movie Script Contest Announces Winners

This stuff makes me so mad. I just don't understand how stories can be written in 2008 where all the people quoted and talked to are guys.

But both the Hollywood Reporter and Variety ran pieces last week that did just that.

Variety had a piece Vet Critics Adapt to Challenging Times where they talked to veteran film critics about the decimation of their ranks. So we have the opinions of worthy men like Andrew Sarris, Richard Schickel, Joe Morgenstern and Kenneth Turan, but no women. It's true that women make up only 30% of the critics according to the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film but doesn't that make it even more important to have women's voices in these discussions?

The Hollywood Reporter did a round table with several directors whose films are getting notice this season and again ALL WERE MEN including: Darren Aronofsky, Danny Boyle, Clint Eastwood, Ron Howard, Gus Van Sant and Edward Zwick. Both Kelly Reichardt and Courtney Hunt could easily have been included in the conversation.

Thank you for all your support in 2008. It's pledge time here at Women & Hollywood. Women & Hollywood has come very far this year. The site has been mentioned in a variety of publications and websites from Newsweek to EW to USA Today. We are all creating a conversation about women and pop culture that is so needed, and I look forward to many more interesting conversations.

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For 20 years of Kay Scarpetta one of the great female characters in crime fiction and for standing up for gay marriage.

"Maybe it is a function of getting older but I think it is important to stand up and be counted. When you're not in a relationship your sexual orientation is more theoretical but it becomes more real when you are with somebody and you are not going to hide that."

December 15, 2008

In order to begin pre-production on New Moon the Twilight sequel like this week, Summit has engaged Chris Weitz, the good friend of one its top executives to take on the New Moon directing gig. It's no matter that Weitz was box office poison less than a year ago with the release of The Golden Compass which tanked here in the US (but made a little over $300 million overseas.)

So again, Hollywood gives us an example of a man failing upwards.

I have nothing against Weitz, I liked About a Boy and The Golden Compass but we all know he got the gig because his buddy is the head of production at Summit and they had to close the deal fast. Oh and of course they don't have to worry about him being "irrational" and "difficult" because only women directors are difficult and irrational. What a joke.

They got Stephenie Meyer to put a statement of support for Weitz on her website, but to me it read like a love letter to Hardwicke. Weitz also sent a letter out to fans asking for their support. Guess this could be a moment where the fans could push back and say no, if this matters at all to them. It seems that it matters more to the people who follow film than the people who follow the Twilight series.

“Like you, I’m sad that Catherine is not continuing on with us for New Moon. I’m going to miss her, not just as a brilliant director, but also as a friend. She has such a distinct, authentic voice that did amazing things for Twilight. I’m looking forward to every movie she does in the future. And she didn’t leave us empty handed. We still get the benefits of her amazing casting and the beautiful visual world she created. This foundation puts us in a good place for New Moon.”

To me, this is just bad news for women directors. Here was a real opportunity to show that a woman could helm a lucrative franchise (which just went over the $150 million mark here) and it's gone.

I hope you've been watching The New Adventures of Old Christine on Wednesday nights on CBS. The show is incredibly funny and is on the cutting edge of political humor, especially dealing with gay rights. Last week's episode was so over the top funny and politically relevant with the passage of Prop 8. The episode co-starred Megan Mullally as a representative of the "Bloom" company which tried to shut down Christine's gym because she is in a gay marriage to Wanda Sykes. The ensuing hilarity was over the top funny.

So props go to Kari Lizer the creator and showrunner and to Julia Louis Dreyfus and Wanda Sykes and the rest of the awesome cast for being so funny, so smart and so relevant.

So said broadcaster and writer Dame Joan Bakewell. She has been given a job by the British government to advocate for older people on TV and spoke out after the settlement of a lawsuit by Selina Scott who at 57 was passed over for covering the maternity leave for Five News host Natasha Kaplinsky. Clearly, there was age discrimination since they gave her a settlement of 250,000 pounds.

"[Older women] tell me they feel invisible and they literally are invisible on television.

"We need to do something about that because television represents such a picture of who we are as a community."

I can't believe we are still in an era of firsts for women, but we are. According to the Guardian, Dame Liz Forgan will be named the first female chair of the Arts Council of Britain, one of the most powerful jobs in the arts.

"Forgan, an already influential figure, began as a journalist and was the Guardian's women's editor in the late 1970s before she went into broadcasting management. She became director of programmes at Channel 4 before joining the BBC in charge of radio, helping to set up Radio 5. She recently stepped down as chair of the National Heritage Memorial Fund. In 2003 she was named chairwoman of the Scott Trust, the sole shareholder of the Guardian."